Back in the day, the traditional wisdom in the comics biz was that publishers would put out their annuals in the summer, when the kids were out of school and had summer jobs that put a few more dollars in their pockets. In 1991, the year we're up to in our Marvel Age chronology, Marvel had 19 annuals on their schedule, priced at $2.00 each. So if a fan bought all of them, well, that's $38 spent.
In this issue, Marvel Age ran its usual Summer Annuals Report Card, a move I always found weird. The available grades run from "Outstanding" down to "Awful," and it seems strange that a publisher would invite fans to grade their annuals this way. Oh well.
The Reel Marvel column this month had info on two weird projects that I never heard of before: A Canadian-produced pilot for a Power Pack TV series, which you can watch here, and an animated adaptation of The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius, which doesn't seem to have been made at all.
And hey, has anyone noticed that the New Talent Department has recently featured a lot of wannabe artists that went on to actual comics careers? We recently saw entries from Leonard Kirk and Tom Raney, and this month we have Tomm Coker!
Also, Marvel Age has run a bunch of the "The Many Faces of..." pages before, but I particularly like this month's page, which focuses on Doctor Strange.
Marvel Age #101
Price: $1.00 US
Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: April 16, 1990
Cover date: June 1991
Copyright © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.
Inside front cover
Masthead
• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief
• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor
• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor
• Jim Salicrup: Supreme Marvel Zombie
• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor
• Cindy Emmett and Dawn Geiger: Designers
• Sholly Fisch and Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors
• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bob Budiansky, Bobby Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Suzanne Dell Orto, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Howard Mackie, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Fabian Nicieza, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, Renée Witterstaeter, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director
• Bud LaRosa, Bob Petrecca, and Kevin Tinsley: The Raiders
• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager
• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager
• Lynda Strunk: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader
• Ron Aikens, Steve Alexandrov, Dahlia Aponte, Darren Aucke, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Chris Eliopolous, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Bettie Ringma, George Roberts, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production
• Al Milagros: Cover artist
• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist
• Glenn Herdling: Manufacturing Coordinator
• Greg Myers: Research
• Christine Aurilia, Paula Butterworth, Dwight Coye, Arthur Parris Jackson, Josie McCain, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance
• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions Editor
• Jim Sokolowski: Director of Sales/Newsstand
• Bob Kerekes: National Key Account Manager
• Cindy Marenda: Sales Administrator
• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development
• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor
• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant
• Lou Bank: Assistant Direct Sales Manager Customer Service
• Sven Larsen: Direct Sales Assistant Manager
• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager
• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager
• Irving Forbush: More important than Ralph
• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor
Salicup's Section
Pages 1 - 3
Mondo Marvel Comics
Item: Look for the seven-issue limited series Original Ghost Rider Rides Again, reprinting issues #68 - 81 of the original series.
Item: The Spider-Man Saga is a four-issue series detailing the history of Spidey, including stories from Marvel Team-Up, Web of Spider-Man, and more.
Item: Renée Witterstaeter reports on her trip behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany.
Item: Marvel Zorro series will feature new covers by Alex Toth on its final three issues.
Item: Epic presents the new series The Olympians, written by Stephen Jewell with art by Gary Chaloner.
Marvel Top 100 List
October 1990
- Spider-Man #5
- X-Men #271
- Punisher War Journal #25
- Fantastic Four #347
- Amazing Spider-Man #342
- X-Factor #61
- New Mutants #96
- Ghost Rider #8
- Wolverine #34
- Marvel Comics Presents #64
Page 4 - 5
Andy Mangels' Reel Marvel
• NBC ordered a pilot based on Power Pack.
• The Punisher is coming out on video.
• Stan Lee has a cameo in the movie The Ambulance.
• The TV movie The Rebirth of the Incredible Hulk is in the works.
• It seems a She-Hulk project is in development, possibly to star Brigitte Nielsen.
• A script is being written by Stuart Gordon for an Iron Man movie.
• An animated movie based on The Airtight Garage is in pre-production, as is a movie based on Lt. Blueberry.
Page 6
Epic-Grams
The Epic humor line may be expanding soon.
Groo the Wanderer becomes part of the Legend of Thaiis in issue #80.
A new Groo TPB collects issues #4 - 7 of the series
Andy Lanning and John Carnell present the Sleeze Brothers in the miniseries Some Like It Fresh.
Page 7
Stan's Soapbox
Willie Lumpkin by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo
Pages 8 - 12
Article: "Summer 1991 Annuals," by Peter Sanderson
Page 13
Marvel Trivia Quiz
Page 14
Convention Con-Fusion - A Conventional Summer
Page 15
Mark's Remarks
Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age
Page 18
The Many Faces of Dr. Strange
Page 19
Article: "Wam! The New Marvel Fan Club," by Charles Novinskie
Page 20
Article: "Punisher P.O.V.," by Barry Dutter
Pages 21 - 25
Preview of Punisher P.O.V. #1
Pages 26 - 27
The Marvel Age of Comics: 1984 Part One
Pages 28 - 29
New Talent Department: Tomm Coker
Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "Say Goodnight, Gracie!"
Inside back cover
Marvel Age Super Shopper Gallery
Back cover
The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: May
Writer: Mike Lackey
Artist: Ron Zalme
Colorist: Renée Witterstaetter
